Agronomist Notes

I took my fifth crop off this year. It took 13 days to complete harvest between start ups, break downs, fix ups, parts runs, belts, more belts and one rain delay. I’m beginning to know our old Gleaner R7 rather intimately! On one memorable occasion a lovely rock sheared four inches off of three rub bars and pushed a 4ft x 2.5ft cage completely off the mounts. And did I mention belts? We changed one or two. Every day.

Harvest is now 95% complete with a few fields here and there to finish. Quality has remained strong although ergot has reared its ugly head once again. There is a lot of beautiful wheat out there being downgraded to feed due to it. The only option is to have the seed cleaned with the colour sorter and word must be out because the local seed cleaning plant now has 800,000 bushels booked already. As for malt barley, the majority of my clients have pulled off malt quality with excellent yields so it looks like malt and canola will be the money makers this year.

This week we’ll look at how you estimate nitrogen removal based on 2011 yields and protein to help you budget your nitrogen needs for 2012. I’ve also attached a handy nutrient uptake and removal calculator to help you understand the fertility requirements of wheat, barley, canola, oats and peas. Next, I’ll provide my top five canola varieties for 2012 then briefly update you on the success we’ve had in canola with a two pass fertilizer system. I’ll also give you an update on a modification we made to our combine to help us harvest in our CTF system. We’ll finish with fundamental and technical grain market news. 

Picture: The Gleaner R7 harvesting Xena barley on September 20th, 2011.

Agronomy

Back of the envelope nitrogen estimates for pre-buying fertilizer

It’s that time of year where producers are starting to pre-buy fertilizer if they haven’t already. I know the recent sell off in commodities has everyone spooked, especially after fertilizer prices fell from fall to spring in 2009, something that is still fresh in everybody’s mind. That said, you’d be interested to know that fertilizer prices have dropped only twice from fall until spring in the last 30 years. Pretty small odds when you think about it. So with that, here are some rough estimates of how to calculate nitrogen removal in wheat, barley and canola to help estimate nitrogen requirements for 2012.

To calculate the nitrogen content removed in the wheat, you must divide the protein content by a factor of 5.7. For example, a 65 bushel wheat crop with 11.5% protein divided by a factor of 5.7 will indicate the nitrogen content of the grain.

Wheat: 65 bu/ac × 64 lbs/bu × (11.5% ÷ 5.7 ÷ 100) = 84 lbs/ac.
*The factor of 5.7 is unique to wheat.

Barley: 105 bu/ac × 54 lbs/bu × (14% ÷ 6.25 ÷ 100) = 113 lbs/ac.
*The factor of 6.25 is used for all other grains and nitrogen removal can be determined using the same formula.

Canola: 55 bu/ac × 1.88 lbs/bu = 103 lbs/ac.

I encourage you to look through your yields, proteins and bushel weights in wheat and barley as well as canola. You might be surprised how much nitrogen was produced and removed from the system. These calculations should help get you close to what you need for 2012 if yields were average or above in 2011. SL

Uptake and removal calculator

To help you understand nutrient uptake and removal better, I’ve included a handy spreadsheet that allows you to plug in your intended yield and it automatically generates how many pounds of N-P-K-S you’ll require and remove given your yield. I find this tool useful when I put together my fertilizer recommendations for clients.

Insert spreadsheet.

Top 5 canola varieties for 2012

After reviewing canola varietal performance across 13,500 acres this year, I’ve decided on my top five picks for 2012. Here they are with my observation notes:

1. InVigor 5440: This variety is very well suited to my clients in the west who border the Highway 2 corridor. It has the potential to hit 90 bu/ac and higher if you push the agronomy in the right growing season. The standability of this variety is second to none and consequently is sclerotinia tolerant in my opinion. It’s well suited across all my territory but certainly in the west where rainfall is higher.

2. InVigor L150: This variety yields extremely well but does not stand like 5440. In fact, this year I had a number of fields of L150 lodge that were heavily fertilized or manured. The L150 grown in the east side of my territory towards Highway 21 and east did extremely well with yields in the high 50’s and 60’s. I would pick this variety again for the drier areas where lodging is rarely a problem.

3. Pioneer 45S52: This RR variety stands fairly well, I would say in between L150 and 5440. It has as high a yield potential as 5440 and offers tolerance to sclerotinia. It would be the 5440 equivalent in a RoundUp Ready system. My only beef with this variety and with most RR varieties is that they mature unevenly. You’ll always find flowers blooming right until late August which can lead to slower dry down in the swath and smaller immature seeds reducing bushel weight. All in all it’s a solid variety.

4. Dekalb 7345: This RR variety did very well in the test plots and kept up with L150 and 45S52. It stands very similar to a 45S52 which is a refreshing change from the past Dekalb varieties. This variety yields extremely well and I suspect it will be in high demand with a $9.50 lb price point. The one thing it doesn’t have is tolerance to sclerotinia so it does require a fungicide if it’s grown in a risk area. Pioneer 45S52 has a leg up on it for this reason.

5. VT500: This variety sold by Viterra was a bit of a surprise. For a RR variety it stood extremely well, in fact probably as well as 5440 even under irrigation. I’d rate this variety the number one RR variety for standability. Now VT500 would be great if you have lodging issues and like the RoundUp Ready system but it still yielded between 5 and 10% less than 5440 or L150. SL  

Two pass nitrogen yields positive results in canola

For the second year in a row a client and I decided to proceed with a two pass nitrogen system by applying most of our nitrogen needs as NH3 in the fall prior to canola. Historically, this farm had moved to spring applied urea in a direct seeding system like most in the area. Unfortunately, the wet, heavy clay soil coupled with heavy residue reduced canola emergence, vigour, maturity and yield. For this reason we moved to a two pass system to spread out the work load, blacken the soil to warm it up in the spring and help break down residue faster or at least move it out of the way.

For the second year in a row, canola yields are above average and most definitely above the area average. In fact, it has a few neighbors thinking about applying anhydrous this fall. I know most farms have moved away from a two pass system but I think fall anhydrous is a good fit on fields destined for canola and the economics work on the cost difference between NH3 and urea as well as the yield increase. SL

Modifications to the R7 to boost on-board storage capacity
With a quick down and back pass on a quarter section field of barley to start the year off, we quickly realized we needed to make a modification to our R7 Gleaner 300 bushel tank. We couldn’t get down and back on our tram lines without spilling grain over the sides. The photo on the left shows the original hopper after my first pass down and back. The photo on the right shows our new improved Binford 5000 wooden hopper topper. The sturdy ¾” plywood and 2x4 construction is built with metal screws and reinforced walls. It was designed by my father-in-law, Sam who is familiar with the rustic charm of a Gleaner. I call it the tin shed with a wooden roof look. The only problem was deciding whether I should use paint or deck stain. I even thought about throwing up some shingles for good looks. This modification was just what we needed to add that extra 75-100 bushel capacity we were looking for to make it down and back on our tram lines.

Go ahead, have a good laugh. My pride is in the ditch somewhere but that 100 bushel barley crop is tucked away nicely in the bin. SL